Chennai: The Surrogacy (Regulation Bill) that seeks a blanket ban on commercial surrogacy was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. However, the bill has a provision of conducting altruistic surrogacy.
“The ban is a welcome move as the concept of surrogacy has become a money-minting, illegal business. Vulnerable patients are repeatedly made to be a surrogate mother by luring them with money and other benefits. Such mothers usually hail from underprivileged background and accept the offer. They are exposed to ovulation, drugs and all sorts of medication affecting their health,” Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children (KGH) Dean, Dr S Vijaya, told News Today.
“Due to lack of legislation to regulate surrogacy, the practice of surrogacy has been misused by the surrogacy clinics, which leads to rampant use of commercial surrogacy and unethical practices in the said area of surrogacy,” stated the bill in Parliament.
The members of the Lower House recorded positive responses with a voice vote for permitting altruistic form of surrogacy where the mother must be a close relative of the intending couple.
Further, the bill seeks the formation of a National Surrogacy Board, State Surrogacy Boards and appointment of appropriate authorities for regulation of the practice and process of surrogacy.
The bill also stated that the relative can be surrogate mother only once. The KGH Dean said it was possible to convince a relative. “The major challenge here would be counselling them for doing the altruistic act,” added Dr Vijaya.